Bury Me Standing - The Gypsies and their Journey

I'm not sure I can begin to express the disgust, distress and outrage I have felt in response to the stories and histories presented within this study of a people much maligned. To discover the extent of their persecution at the hands of the Nazis, who seemed to see them rather as an experimental biologist sees a mouse or a monkey bred to 'help' us understand how to handle disease. And yet this fact barely registers within our collective remembrance of the Holocaust, in our focus on the equally horrific slaughter of the European Jewish population.

Perhaps this is in itself a reflection of the ancient racist reaction to these dark-skinned people arriving in Europe before the notion of racism was born, justified for centuries by their apparently asocial behaviour. It seems to me that this essentially comes down to the basic human intolerance of difference - my god they uphold a different style of living to us - we must outlaw it - and shit, if they dare to maintain their nomadic ways, we'll hang them, lynch them, expatriate them, burn them out of their homes.

But in fact, in a similar way to how we might view the attitudes and approach to living of the Australian Aboriginals, the Native American Indians, the Canadian First Peoples, etc, if we were open-minded, we might perceive a way to appreciate something of the Gypsies' approach to living. I don't want to suggest that we ignore the multiplicity of developments in scientific understanding about the real way the world works, that a populace as, on the whole, uneducated as the Gypsies might overlook in their maintenance of ancient superstitions. But their determination to live in the present moment, not dwelling in the trauma of yesterday, which we have no power to change, could this not be psychologically beneficial as an approach to life? And the valuing of the family and community over the individual, has this not some value in our age of egotism?

Aside from the tendency to rant that this fascinating anthropological study has inspired in me (!), I also feel drawn to find out about some of the initiatives, novels, activists mentioned within its detailed and wide-ranging pages.

Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami

I've just got a few chapters left to go in this and it's absolutely
brilliant. It's been a while since I've read any Murukami and I've
been appreciating the familiar feeling of Murakami's storytelling,
like coming back to an old friend who you hadn't realized you'd been
missing. This looks like being up there on my favourite Murukami's
alongside Hard Boiled Wonderland... and Wild Sheep Chase.

I think I'll leave the rest of my thoughts until I've actually
finished it....

The Golden Notebook

This first post is something of a mission statement. I should add at this stage (so as not to mislead you!) that I haven't actually succeeded in getting past the prologue of The Golden Notebook. You know how it is - sometimes you simply don't quite feel in the right brain space for a given story or style. So what excuse have I for making this the title of my first post?

Well, in short (which you know is hard for such a verbose one as I!), I liked the concept. It appealed to the anal side of me which is inexorably drawn towards categorisation (Agh! All different thoughts jumbled together. But wait, the soothing possibility of gathering reflections on teaching in one space, reflections inspired by books in another, and so on...).

Plus, I'm often interested, when I read a book, to know others' thoughts on it if they've read it too. Yet the far flung nature of so many of my friendships means the time for this to happen often passes by, so that when the actual moment of togetherness arises, my memory of the strong emotions or thoughts inspired by the given book we have both read has already become hazy. So this blog will serve as a chance to share those inspired thoughts, as well as providing an aide memoire for contributors. Afterall, it seems a shame to lose track of the myriad places we can be taken to through reading a book.

So I hope you'll share with me the thoughts you've had on the books you've read, perhaps inspiring me to dive into that book myself. And I look forward to the challenge to my own beliefs and attitudes provided by the alternative interpretations your readings may present.